This reminds me of the studies in which marijuana smoke (in insane
quantities) was pumped into boxes with monkeys in them. The monkeys died--of
carbon monoxide poisoning. Guess what got the bad rap? It sure wasn't the
carbon monoxide.
--Katrina
>Aspartame is a methyl ester of a dipeptide,and so can metabolize into
>methanol. However, one can (12 oz = 355 ml) of non-diet soft drink
>usually has something less than 40 g of sugar. Since Aspartame is
>about 160 times as sweet as sugar, the same diet drink would have
>something less than 250 mg of Aspartame (the exact amount is not
>revealed on the label). This amount would metabolize to about 25 mg
>of methanol, perhaps 1/2 drop. The lethal amount is ordinaly over
>25 g. I have seen estimates that intestinal bacteria normally produce
>more methanol than this each day in their wastes. These wastes
>are absorbed into our bodies and are readily dealt with.